How I Got Funny

I was a Sunday funnies reader. Sherman’s Lagoon specifically. I wrote many comics of my own in my purple notebook. Oh, how I’d love to read those now.

Here’s an example comic strip of Sherman’s Lagoon:

I grew up watching Phineas and Ferb. My favorite movies were Lego Batman, Megamind, and Shrek 2. Great soundtracks and writing. It never gets old.

I loved the theatre. I dreamed of being an actress. I was expressive and sensitive. My parents took me to see La La Land, and that’s when I knew. I had to be in the arts.

This scene did it for me (the first like 3 minutes lol).

I didn’t just write comic strips. I wrote everything. I wrote books, songs, and scripts for plays, movies, and skits.

I struggled during my later years of elementary school. I was no longer the cute little first grader who had automatic friends. I had a retainer and a short pixie haircut. I wore eyeliner. I stopped getting invited to things as the whole “who can I be friends with that raises my social status?” (popularity) became a thing.

I stopped writing.

I would come home crying from dance and school quite often. There were cliques everywhere I went. In dance class, some girls would form very exclusive groups. “Curious Savages” was the one that started it all. They had their own Instagram account and would follow each of us in the class, then post during breaks so we could all feel left out all the time. I asked them to join, and they said no. Another group formed. And once again, I wasn’t a part of it. The two remaining girls and I stuck together, but never came up with a group name. It was all so stupid.

I tried out for the cheer team in 7th grade. After finding out I made the team, I was dropped off by one of my friend’s moms, with my two closest friends from school in the car. I asked them if they could hang out, and the car got uncomfortably quiet. The mom told me they were going to a celebration party thrown by one of the girls in my dance class who had also tried out. She had just met them that weekend. And I had known her for years. I was absolutely crushed. I walked into an empty house and went to my parents’ bathroom. I looked in the mirror, grabbed my mom's hair-cutting scissors, and cut bangs diagonally across my forehead. I bawled at the sight and hid in my closet.

I started dreaming about new things: having friends.

We had a group Halloween costume as aliens. The whole group bought matching outfits and got together that morning to do their makeup and hair together so it would match. I went to school looking different from the rest.

I lost my voice and was quiet during hangouts.

I decided to take Dance 2, where I met Melissa. She was quirky like me and loved to create. We made music videos together and watched movies like Sabrina. She had such an old soul. She, too, was a La La Land dreamer. We listened to the soundtrack together and cried over it.

Things started to get better. I had a friend who would inspire me creatively and would laugh with me. I connected easily with her friends, who appreciated my personality and often laughed at my jokes, impressions, and one-liners. I stopped trying to be like those girls in 7th grade, and I realized what my voice was. It was funny. Freaking hilarious, actually. I started to really use my knowledge of the greats (Megamind, Shrek 2, Sunday Funnies, etc.).

People liked having me around, not because I improved the overall “good-looking ratio of the group,” but because I made them laugh.

This continued into high school.

Always the boyfriend’s favorite, but never the one with the boyfriend. I was titled “the funny friend,” which was very flattering, but got old. I wanted to be liked, the kind where a boy thinks I’m pretty and dateable. In my yearbook, I was given this message:

“You are one of the only funny girls on the planet because I didn’t know girls could be funny, but somehow you are.” A backhanded compliment, and one that could get me on another tangent about why boys think women can’t be funny. But the takeaway is clear.

My favorite movies are still Lego Batman, Megamind, and Shrek 2. And La La Land.

I write often.

I have the greatest high school memories with my incredible friend group. We’re still so close. I can’t even count the times I’ve peed my pants from laughing.

And I found a boy who loves me for my humor, but he loves me even more for everything else.

I feel lucky to have had an “ugly phase” (not actually ugly, of course), as I gained a unique personality through it all. I no longer feel like I have to rely on my humor; it’s just an asset I use in all of my creative endeavors.

She’s so precious. Bangs and all.